1. Back in November, I chided the Liberals and Tories for having their websites down / limited / under construction since the election. The Liberals promptly got their site up and the NDP site since went down and came back up. The Tories, on the other hand, have gone more down. Their site from shortly after the election until around early December consisted of a thank you letter from Bernard Lord. Since then it has had the tired "Under construction – we will launch shortly." In the age of the internet a few months does not count as "shortly". I would certainly hope they get a site up by the time the House sits! I would be doing a lot more stories on the Tories - probably a number of them positive - but I have no idea what they are up to. Their website is not up so I can't see their news releases and they have ignored emails I have sent them asking to be included on their distribution list. I am sure there are lots more New Brunswickers keen to know what the PC Party is doing, c'mon guys!!
2. Spinks and I both wrote about the coming of the New Brunswick Green Party a while back. Nothing has been heard of their efforts since they were announced in October. I cannot find a website or a blog dedicated to getting this party going. Under the Elections Act, this is all that is requried to form a party:
- a leader elected by a convention
- associations in at least ten ridings
- an undertaking to run candidates in at least ten ridings at the next general election
3. The press is making a big stink about Dion's comments on whether or not some of the 10 people banned from the Liberal Party by Paul Martin should be allowed back in. Spinks posted about it as well. That is fair. What is not fair is the completely dishonest headline in the Globe today which says: "Dion backtracks". Tuesday Dion said, he was not opposed to the idea but there were internal processes and he would not be involved in the decision. Yesterday he said "I am not seeking to reopen that issue and ... I'm not recommending anything." How is that different?
4. Lots of neat news coming out of the U.S. in terms of politics. Many states may move their primaries early, which could result in the New Hampshire primary in 2007 out of spite! Lots of talk about the "big 5", three Democrats (Clinton, Obama and Edwards) and two Republicans (McCain, Guliani). Despite what polls say, Guliani will not be a player in this. He is far to "liberal" for even many moderate Republicans to swallow. The "Christian conservative" wing of the Republican Party will certainly organize their considerable might to ensure anybody but. For what its worth, my pick is Joe Biden. I am not saying he is my pick to win; he would be my pick if I were a Democratic primary goer.
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5 comments:
hmmmmm... in a rare case we disagree ;) If I were an American, I'd pick John Edwards for the Democratic primary.
Edwards is my second choice if it is any consolation.
Well I kind of like Bill Richardson, but I have no idea who is going to wim. I think that Obama would be on the ticket. I don't Think Hilary's supporters would let her but I think Obama has little to lose by taking it.
I think Obama has a lot to lose and is making a big mistake by running.
He pledged up and down and back and forth that he was not going to run in 2008 and he should have kept to that word. He has little federal experience and a record very subject to attack from his state experience (he was, by all accounts, the most left wing member of the Illonois Senate). He won his primary in 2004 with money from Howard Dean's campaign organization (Obama was one of the original "Dean Dozen" through which his presidential campaign funded supporters running for other offices in tough races) and there are apparently some skeletons (including admitted cocaine use) in his closet.
None of these are things that would go well with the American voters at large though I personally have no problems with liberalism, Howard Dean and youthful mistakes.
By running now he is going to get tainted with all of these things and his 2 years and counting in the Senate will not have presented enough of a record to offset them. He will be very damaged goods who went from frontrunner to also ran and may not be able to mount another serious campaign.
If he had taken a pass, everyone would have been begging him to run and he would have gotten good publicity without hard media scruntiny. He is very young (51 in 2012 and 55 in 2016) and could have carried the momentum into a much more successful bid for the nomination in 2012 (if the Democrats lose) or 2016 (if the Democrats win). I do not think he will have that opportunity now.
Richardson has good credentials but there is just something about him that I can't put my finger on that I don't like.
I agree with you NBpolitico. Obama is making a mistake but only if he really wishes to be President right away. He may be trying to jockey himself in the VP's ticket or a later serious cabinet post. Will Hillary carry it? It's hard to say? Edwards or Richardson may end up being the Stephane Dion of the Liberals, going up thorugh the middle. But, too seem to think Richardson is lacking the something special. So, he may just end up on the VP ticket for now. As for the Republicans, I think it's all over for them. McCain won't even run and Guiliani won't attract the Religious Right of the South, the Central PLains and the West will not have a divorced Italian Catholic New Yorker run the country. They'll stick with Hillary more.
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